1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to diet and nutrition, and particularly to a nutrition system that includes a web-based metabolic profile questionnaire to determine a person's metabolic profile and furnishes a kit containing a plate designed to implement a diet corresponding to the person's metabolic profile, along with instructional media explaining the diet and use of the plate to implement the diet.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the most prevalent health problems in the Western World, particularly in the United States, is that of excessive body weight. Being overweight is epidemic, with more than 50% of the adult population of the U.S. suffering therefrom. Accordingly, developing and maintaining a physically fit and healthy body is becoming the goal of an increasing number of individuals. As of late, the public has become increasingly aware of the importance of a proper diet for weight control, as well as for health maintenance and disease prevention. As a result, many diets have been designed to lose weight, to maintain present weight, or to assure the consumption of appropriate nutrition.
A large segment of the population is on a special diet at any given time. According to the American Obesity Association, it is estimated that 40% of the women and 25% of the men of the United States are on a special diet for the purpose of weight control. Unfortunately, most dieters fail to achieve their goals for a number of reasons. First, many diets have numerous different and often conflicting guidelines that are presented in a complex manner, thus making it difficult for a person to understand and carry out the diet correctly. A second reason is the often sparse, rigid or monotonous nature of the nutritional regimen prescribed. Self-deprivation is not a well-developed trait in modern society, and quite a few diets rely purely on caloric restriction.
A third reason is that most diets do not address the need for the dieter to understand the underlying principles of the diet so that he or she can effectively maintain personally appropriate eating habits after the diet period has ended. The most important aspect of all weight control diets is the need to limit calories. With very few exceptions (such as, for example, serious illnesses), the only way by which a person loses weight is by consuming fewer calories than are required by the body metabolism to support the required energy level. When fewer calories are consumed, the body metabolizes stored body fat, resulting in weight loss. Conversely, when too many calories are consumed, the body stores this excess energy source as body fat, resulting in weight gain. Simply restricting calories without a developed plan, however, can be dangerous to the dieter, in that the dieter may also restrict essential nutrients.
It is, of course, important to obtain the aforementioned calories from foods that provide proper nutrition to the body. The body has a broad range of nutritional needs in order to maintain health and full function. Accordingly, a person who simply counts calories will not achieve the goal of developing and maintaining a physically fit and healthy body, since being concerned with calories to the exclusion of all other factors will not provide proper nutrition. It is well known that a balanced diet includes food from several food groups in order to provide optimum levels of nutrients, such as protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Many meal planning aids have been proposed to assist dieters to consume a diet with proper macro- and micronutrient balance. Various techniques have been implemented to control calories and also instruct the user in using a wide variety of food groups in their meals. Such systems and methods include nutritional charts, tickets, vouchers and containers, each labeled according to lists of foods and categories of foods.
Although considerable effort has been directed towards dietary meal plans, the results have not been totally satisfactory due to the need for ongoing record keeping and oversight, and in most cases the procedures involved are cumbersome, time consuming, and inconvenient to implement. Another well-known diet management system, known generally as an “exchange diet”, divides food into six groups or “exchanges”. According to such exchange diets, food groups are referred to as exchanges, such as bread exchanges, meat exchanges, fat exchanges, fruit exchanges, milk exchanges, and vegetable exchanges. The “exchange” is a unit of food, which may be different for each food group. However, within a particular food group, each exchange is approximately equal in calories and in the amount of certain nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fiber minerals and vitamins. For each food group, an “exchange list” is provided which sets forth the amount of a specific food that constitutes an exchange. For example, a small apple and one-fourth of a cantaloupe melon constitute one fruit exchange.
The exchange diet further specifies the number of exchanges for each food group for a specified daily caloric intake. For example, for a daily two thousand calorie intake, a person is allowed nine bread exchanges, nine meat exchanges, four fat exchanges, six fruit exchanges, three milk exchanges, and two vegetable exchanges. As is readily apparent, exchange diets require time and careful attention to carry out properly. A person observing an exchange diet must determine the number of exchanges allowed for each food group, keep track of the number of exchanges consumed in each food group, and keep track of the number of exchanges remaining in each food group. Such information is typically processed and maintained by memory, by notes, or by predetermined menus. Such procedures are both time-consuming and prone to error.
Various calculators, notepads, records and the like have been used to aid in such memory and calculation-intensive diet plans, but such devices and systems also rely heavily on the user to keep careful notes and records, thus also making such systems prone to user error. Further, while these systems provide for orderly and systematic monitoring of exchange limits and exchanges consumed, they are typically awkward and cumbersome to use on a daily basis.
A further well-known method of managing a diet consists of pre-prepared and pre-packaged dietetic food. Typical supermarket shelves and freezers are well stocked with such foods. Such dietetic food is often pre-packaged into meals that provide well-balanced nutrition with limited calories. However, they do not provide any guidance to the dieter for building or adhering to a structured diet. Moreover, nothing prevents a hungry dieter from eating a plurality of such meals each day or in a single sitting.
Further, the problem of planning and maintaining a healthful diet goes beyond weight control concerns and exists with respect to other special diets, such as those associated with diet-responsive health conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, osteoporosis, cancer and many others, and those required for individuals with special sensitivities or allergies or individuals requiring a special diet, such as athletes. There are some advantages to such systems, as the variety of foods within the pre-packaged meals enhances ongoing compliance with the diet, and there is very little preparation or cooking to be performed. However, such meals and such systems that utilize such meals have a number of disadvantages, such as denying the dieter the option of selecting the components of each meal, not providing the dieter with the tools nor the knowledge to understand what he or she is consuming, not facilitating the dieter's ability to carry on healthy eating habits after ending the diet, and not providing any means for monitoring or oversight of compliance. Thus, a nutritional method and plate for use therewith solving the aforementioned problems is desired.